Languedoc Guitars and Replicas: January 2017

<a href="www.rmolsonguitars.com"> R M Olson Guitars</a>
The guitarist went on to explain more of the changes for this summer, “The single coil sound with the new switch is very similar to the single coil center position sound that I had last summer and at the Fare Thee Well shows. So, in other words…the way the guitars are switched today, I can access either sound with one guitar: the glassier single coil sound from last summer, and the full on original ‘Divided Sky’/’Squirming Coil’ fat, mid-range sound from all the previous years of Phish.” He revealed that this summer will be the first time he will have access to both of those sounds on one guitar.

Below is a rundown of Trey’s most frequently-used Paul Languedoc guitars, with a brief description accompanying each picture. There are a few others that have made occasional appearances that are not (yet) included here. Paul’s hollowbody guitars are fully braced and completely hollow, like a violin.

Languedocs are unique for many reasons, one of which is that they have a 25.5? neck scale like a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster but dual humbuckers like a Gibson Les Paul, 335, or SG. Strats and Teles usually have single coils and Gibsons generally have a 24.75? neck scale, so the Languedoc doesn’t fit neatly in either category. Furthermore, so many of the mass production guitars made today are variations on the basic Fender/Gibson ideas that there are hardly any mass production guitars out there with the 25.5? + dual humbucker combo (notably, several of Jerry Garcia’s guitars featured this rare combination). The scale length gives the guitars a twangy Fender-ish bite and vocal quality while the pickups give them that high-output, compressed, mid-range-heavy hard rock sound. All while the superior tonewoods and hollow chamber lend a woody, natural tone and unparalleled sustain.

Later iterations have featured coil-tapped humbuckers for single-coil tone variations. The mini-switches under the bottom F-hole control pickup selection, coil-dropping, and series/parallel options.

#1: Old Reliable.

No 1 - Old Reliable

No 1 - mar-mar

Aka “Blonde No. 1.” Built in 1987. Single coil reinstalled for Fare Thee Well. “Who’s the Mar-Mar?” thought bubble over Marley headstock inlay. This guitar has a different headstock than Paul’s later guitars, which have a headstock inspired by the shape of the state of Vermont.

#2: Spruce “I’m the Mar-Mar” (Refurbished 2014 with sunburst refinish).

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Marley chasing a cat on the headstock. “I’m the Mar-Mar!” thought bubble over Marley. During the 2014 TAB Tour, Trey explained the provenance of this guitar to the crowd. He said it was built in August of 1991 and had a spruce top and maple back. He explained that the neck started to “twist” shortly after Paul built it and it fell into disuse, but that Paul “stole it back… sawed the neck off, put a new neck on it… put the sunburst on it” and returned it to Trey.

#3: Koa 1, 1996.

rack close up

Rectangle inlays. White plastic binding. Less prominent flame. Paul’s signature inlaid on the headstock. The first Languedoc Guitar I fell for.

#4: Koa 2, 1999.

No 4 - Koa 2.png

More prominent flame than Koa 1. White plastic binding. “Bracket” inlay at 12th and 24th frets. Paul’s signature inlaid on the headstock.

#5: Ocelot (Koa 3), 2010.

ocedoc

Ocelot inlaid on the headstock. Very prominent flame and darker color. Redwood binding. Introduced by Trey at the Greek Theater in Berkeley on 8-5-10. “Bracket”-style inlays at 12 and 24. Mr. Miner penned some thoughts about the fan-dubbed “Ocedoc” here.

#6: Blonde No. 2.

No 6 - spruce 2.png

Wood binding, Paul’s signature on the headstock. Introduced Summer Tour 2016. Trey talked about it with Jambase. Diamond inlays, with double-diamonds at 12 and 24. Folks who have spoken to Paul about this guitar have emailed me to say that the topwood on this guitar is not spruce, as Trey claimed in his Jambase interview, but is actually maple, with mahogany back and sides and curly maple binding. That’s consistent with its appearance, which shows a nicely flamed maple look.

Trey Anastasio has thre"index.html"ul Languadoc electric guitars, all built by Paul Languadoc, the soundman for the band. Trey's guitars include:

1. "Old Reliable," Trey's first custom electric guitar. This blonde beauty was built in late1987 for Trey when he told Paul that he wanted a fatter sound. Paul built it from a combination of spruce and maple, with 2 humbuckers and a single coil in the middle. The back and sides are spruce and the top is maple. This became Trey's primary guitar until his next one was built in 1992. When Paul began to build Trey's second guitar, he removed the single coil from the middle, and covered up the hole with plastic. Photos from 1992 show Trey using the spruce guitar with the plastic pickup cover, indicating that construction had begun on #2. When #2 was complete, Old Reliable became his backup guitar. 2. Trey's second Languadoc, built in 1992, became his main guitar in the beginning of 1993 primarily, until late 1996. This one has the same natural finish as the first one but the body is made from padauk (as opposed to spruce). There is a slightly different inlay on the headstock, and the inlay on frets12 and 24 are larger while the rest have been thinned down. The upper and lower bouts of this guitar are also not as curved as the original. Paul put the single coil pickup from the spruce guitar into this one, replacing the vacant hole in his old one with a plastic cover. 3. Trey's third, and current Languadoc is a koa hollowbody built during 1996. This guitar is all koa with a maple neck, and the same tapered body shape as the second one. The finish on this one is a darker, redder stain, with a slightly different headstock shape, different (even smaller) inlays, and two chrome-covered humbuckers. The saddles are bronze on this guitar as opposed to the bone of the first two. He used this for the first time in October of 1996, and sporadically for the remainder of the year. In 1997, it completed the transition to his main axe, leaving the two blonde ones as backups. Languadoc states that "The koa guitar is the best of all of them because the wood has the most elegant and solid sound of the three."

 

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According to Guitar World (12/98), "Each has a carved top and bottom (with minimal interior bracing), exquisit fingerboard inlays, and six-in-line headstock, a custom tail-piece, and a hand-carved bridge. (The padauk and maple/spruce guitars are made of bone, but the koa's is bronze to give it a more brilliant sound.) The hand carved, arched top hollowbodies have a shape reminiscent of a scaled down Fender Starcaster. The tops, backs and F-holes have multiple layers of white and black binding. The laminated curly maple necks are set and glued to the body with carved heel-joint, and have 24 fret, bound ebony fingerboards with a 25-1/2" scale. The shaped headstocks (with chrome plated Schallar tuning machines all on one side) have multiple binding and black faces with exceptional mother-of pearl inlay work depicting Trey's dog Marley. Bone was used for the nuts and two piece bridge saddles and bases on the first two guitars, and bronze was used for the saddles of the koa one, for a more brillian sound. The cello-style tail-pieces are all hand carved ebony. Trey's primary Languedoc (before the koa one) has a top of European curly maple - preferred by cello builders - and the back and sides are padauk with no back bracing. The guitar's wiring harness and controls are painstakingly accessed through the F-holes. The electronics consist of a pair of Schallar Golden 50 humbucking pickups with individual volume controls,,a tone Control, and a 3-way pickup selector."

Misc.

Surrender to the Air: Eric Liebman posted (3/7/96): "Trey used the following gear on his solo album: Vox AC30; Paul Languedoc guitar; wah pedal; Digitech WP II whammy pedal (for pitch-shifting and pitch-bending); Ibanez digital delay; Alesis Microverb; Univibe (recreated for Trey from other components)."

Thanks also to Jonathan Epstein (11/4/96), Charles Dirksen (3/18/97), Julia Mordaunt (10/27/98), Chris Mcmillan 10/22/97, Brad Sarno 1/20/98, Mike Flouton (6/30/98), and Jeffrey D. Goldberg (4/2/2000), and Andy (8/16/00).

See also: The official site (phish.com) offers a picture of Trey's rig -- click the red picture to the left of the discussion about Amy's Farm on the band page to see it. (Thanks to Adam Gallina 12/3/97.)

“The Ocedoc” – Trey’s Magic Guitar

Trey and "The Ocedoc" (Butter)

One constant throughout Trey’s career has been his Languedoc guitars. While other guitarists switch between instruments for different songs and effects, Trey always slung his one trusty guitar over his back. Having gone through several versions in his twenty-year career, Trey’s Languedoc produced the soul-tugging tone that legions of fans fell in love with throughout the 1990s. His guitar tone defined the band’s sound for years and his axe never failed him. Thus, when Trey took time to publicly unveil his new guitar at The Greek with the following introduction, everyone took notice.

 …He [Paul Languedoc] told me about nine months ago, that he had put aside this magic piece of wood to build one last, really special guitar. And he gave it to me about a week ago, and this is it – [presenting guitar to the crowd.] And I’ve just to to say that I’ve just been freaking out all night about how good this guitar is – it’s the magic guitar…

8.10.10 (G.Lucas)

Well, after only one tour with his guitar, the magic piece of wood has completely bolstered the sound of the band. One would have to be three sheets to the wind to not notice the considerable effect his new piece has had on Phish. After The Greek, the band posted mouth-watering pictures on Facebook of the new guitar with a gorgeous Ocelot inlay. After seeing these images, fans immediately dubbed the guitar the “The Ocedoc” and the legend had began.

But the real story of The Ocedoc played out night after night, and set after set, as Trey continuously carved through the music with his new sonic juggernaut. Carrying a much fuller tone that never reached the treble-heavy peaks of his last guitar of legend, The Ocedoc sounds obviously superior to his all his prior instruments. Rich and deep, resonant and nuanced, Trey’s magic guitar holds the low-end sustain incredibly well, and his micro-control of its voice is striking. Just as importantly, Trey’s bolstered tone provides a far more congruent match for Mike’s unusually broad range of sounds.

Put into play, The Ocedoc sounds stronger than ever in wide-open shredding, but it is the intricate control Trey exhibits within the band’s collaborative jams where his new guitar becomes most effective. His enthusiasm and propensity to contribute creative leads with his shining toy severely decreased his use of the whammy pedal (aka “The Whale) throughout the second leg, resulting in far more intense and creative jams. Without dominating pieces with overwhelming solos or responding to his band mates with copious pitch-bending, The Ocedoc’s responsiveness allowed Trey to contribute with both passion and finesse to the most exquisite jams we’ve heard in years. From “Reba’s” to “Hood’s” and from “Lights” to “Tweezers,” the difference made by The Ocedoc in Phish music became staggering. Like a kid at play with the coolest toy he’s ever had, Trey took the stage night after night, slaying everything in his path.

Trey and the 'Doc (Butter)

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I noticed a palpable difference in The Greek’s “Maze” and “Tweezer” before he told us about his magic guitar, though I thought the difference was on my end, or due to The Greek’s pristine acoustics. But lo and behold, what I heard were not aural hallucinations, but the dawning of a new age – The Era of The Ocedoc. Audibly stronger as the tour progressed, check out Trey’s work throughout Alpine’s two nights for particularly vibrant examples of The Ocedoc out at play. With his magic guitar leading the way, Trey and Phish are ready to take fall tour by storm in what is quickly becoming a highly-anticipated, small-venue, run of shows. Look for an announcement sometime today to find out when your next chance will be to follow The Ocedoc! There was once a Languedoc-guitar that appeared to be an Ollandoc but could have been a Phish band playing a Phred but then a Languedoc guitar does look that way. You can play a doc that way some thing will just seem that way when you are trying to form an opinion about guitars that look like a Languedoc guitar.

Languedoc Guitars and Replicas

Friday, January 13, 2017

Ollandoc Guitars Sometimes Confused with a Langudoc